Alison's Visit

My friend Alison came into town with her 3 babies and her 2 big girls. I was able to get together with her and with some friends from college. It was so good to see everyone. We did not have near enough time to talk. Cade managed to ding my friend's car door. The moments that make me proud.

My friend Tonya with one of the babies

My friend Mandy with another baby

My friend Melissa with the lone boy of the family

Alison's kids and my kids - Nate desperately wanted to hold the baby!!

Cade wanted to hold a baby too Nate finally got a chance to hold a baby!

They Make Me Laugh

Here is a picture of a monkey! Nate is our climber. He was being too quiet so I went to find him and there he sat. He had pushed a chair up to the counter and then climbed up there. Mark said that I am sending him the wrong message by taking his picture first - probably right, but he is a cute monkey. Nate has been so funny lately, but I can't remember half of what he has done that cracks me up. I need to be better about writing it down. He used to say "yes" so cutely. Now, he says "uh-huh" with much inflection. He also says "uh-uh" when he is saying "no". He has been all about Dylan the last few days. Probably because Dylan has been pushing him on his Mater. When Dylan stops, we hear a chorus of, "Dylan, come ere, push me, push meeeee". Chase learned a neat trick to get Nate to come see you, just pretend you are crying and he will come running to give you a hug. I often use this trick when Nate needs a diaper change. Well today, I was in the bedroom with the wipes and the diaper and Nate was not interested in being changed, in spite of his stink. I did the fake crying bit and Nate comes running. He then looks at me mischievously, smiles, and shuts the door! I open the door to get him and he starts laughing! Little stink pot! I was asking him about school and he was telling me so many things. I asked him what he had for snack and he told me, "Jesus". Then he started singing the "I've got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart" song. He is liking school.

Cade has been quite hysterical lately. He learned about germs in school. I have never emphasized germs with him because of his OCD tendencies. Well, the lesson on germs really stuck with him. He came home talking about and telling me what they looked like. At one point, he was lying on the floor and was not wanting to get up. I told him strongly to get up and he hopped right up with a panicked look on his face. He said, "Why, are there germs on the floor?!"

Cade is a big snuggler. We always snuggle in bed in the mornings. The other morning we were snuggling and having our normal "who loves you more" conversation. Mark made the mistake of asking Cade if Cade loved him as much as he loved Mommy. Cade replied, "Well, almost". That was rewarded by a big tickling!

Cade is doing very well in school. Now that he knows what to expect, he is not having any meltdowns. His teacher feels that he is very bright. I am so thankful that she can see who he is in spite of his sensory challenges. We are a bit concerned with his visual/spatial skills. He segments his letters and he has a hard time with his letter formation. He also has a hard time with writing softly. He does not have a good sense of how much pressure he is putting on the paper. The therapist has given us some things to do to help him with this.

Dylan continues to love, love, love school. He was upset that one little boy in his class did not like him. This is the same little boy that I heard use very inappropriate and mean language. Dylan and I talked about how it is really okay that not everyone likes you. We also talked about tacky people and how you really should find friends who are not tacky. Dylan has friends in his class, especially one little boy. I don't want one tacky kid to make him feel bad about himself.

Chase is liking school better. He seems to be getting a better handle on the homework. I still feel that he has too much! The deadline for his first book report is looming. Hopefully he can finish reading his book this weekend - although it is going to be a very busy weekend. Birthday parties to attend, cousins to play with, ovarian cancer walk - it will be a good weekend.

Nate's Big Boy Bed

Nate moved to a big boy bed this last weekend. All of our boys except for Nate have been out of the crib before they were 2. Nate stayed in longer for a couple of reasons 1) we did not have a bed to move him to and 2) he is my last baby. I was not sure how Nate would handle the move. He was very, very, VERY excited about his bed. He loves it! The crib has already been sold in a garage sale (I made $300 in the garage sale). It was very hard for me to let the crib go. It is just so FINAL! (Yes, I know we have 4 children but now I have no babies and never will again).

Nate has done very well in his bed. The first nap time was a little challenging, but now he has gotten the idea that he must stay in his bed until he takes a nap. I have to admit that I am enjoying him being in a big boy bed. Every night we lay in his bed and read some books. He is loving that! He won't let me sing to him anymore. I don't think I sing THAT bad!

Here are some pictures from the putting up of the bed. By the way, Mark was out of town so Chase and I got the mattresses up the stairs all by ourselves with a little assistance from Dylan.

Nate "helping" to put together his bed. I took his fish toy down from his crib. He has not played with it in months. I was going to sell it in the garage sale but he kept bringing it back in the house. I guess he was not ready to let go of it yet.

Nate was so excited, he is trying to pull the mattress into his room. Cracked me up!

He was so excited that he could not stand it!

Here he is already trying to crawl into bed.
Soooo happy!
I asked him to close his eyes and pretend like he was asleep and he did it!

Trying to decide which animal to have in bed for his first night!

Happy Birthdays!!

As you can tell by my lack of blogging, I have been a bit busy lately. I will try to catch up over the next few days.

I had a 2-day conference to attend so Mark's parents were kind enough to come in and take care of the boys. Thank you, Charles and Ann!! I couldn't have made it without them. That weekend was Mark's birthday and my birthday (our birthdays are a day apart - but Mark is a year older). I made Mark a photo book from his trip to Alaska. It turned out really well. His parents gave him a camping-cooking thing. It was just what he wanted. The next day was my birthday. Mark had not been given a choice of gifts this year. I was very clear about what I wanted and that I would by it myself if I did not get it. I got it, a video ipod! He did manage to find a bargain and get one with more memory for the cost of one with less memory. I am loving it!! Thank you, Mark! Charles and Ann gave me a beautiful music box from their recent trip to Switzerland. It is beautiful. Nate loves watching it!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Uh-Oh

I am always paranoid when I am driving Mark's truck. I fear that I will somehow cause damage to it. Well....

it's damaged, but it wasn't caused by me! Mark was driving to work when a kind lady decided to change lanes right into his truck. Since there was a car on the other side of Mark, he just had to take it. This same kind lady then proceeded to drive along as if nothing had happened. Mark finally got her to pull over and then she tried to say that it was Mark that hit her - nice. The police came and Mark was able to show them the damage and how the damage supported his story. She got the ticket, now let's hope her insurance will pay. I so appreciate honest people!

Ups and Downs - Updates All Around

The boys have been settling into the school routine. Here are some updates from the oldest to the youngest. Sorry it is so long!

Chase: Chase has had the hardest time transitioning to school starting. He was very unhappy about changing schools so that did not help. Homework has been a beating!! His teacher apparently sent out an email about shortening the homework amount but the email did not make it to us. As a result, he did double the amount of homework this week. Chase is making great grades, but he has to work for them. I hope he can keep up the hard work. He also has a "binder-signing happy" teacher. He has had his binder signed twice for little minor things. That is devastating to him. Chase is really maturing before my eyes, and it is painful to watch. I remember that awkward time. He knows things now and he sees the world through older eyes. Makes me sad that he is leaving his childhood behind. He cares so much about his appearance now. It is torture to him to have to wear a shirt with a collar. He will not wear it one second longer than he has to wear it. He and Nate continue to have such a wonderful and special bond. I don't know how I would do it without Chase helping so much with Nate. Chase has also developed a very caring relationship with Cade. Chase has always struggled with Cade because he did not understand why Cade acts the way he does sometimes. Chase went with me to one of Cade's therapy sessions and a light bulb went off! He truly gets Cade now and understands why he is the way he is. Chase is now super patient, helpful, and loving towards Cade. He helps Cade when Cade is having a hard time. He wants to be the one to help with Cade's brushing therapy. I even heard him standing up for his brother to someone! It has been wonderful!

Dylan: There is not a lot to write about Dylan. He is loving school!! He loves learning and does very well. Everyday is a great day for him. He has a good friend in his class so he is happy. He and Cade now wear the same size in pants. That could get interesting. Dylan is the same sweet, silly, daydreaming boy as always.

Cade: There is always something to write about Cade :-) He had a cavity filled at the dentist. He proceeded to suck and bite his lip so badly that it became very swollen and painful. That caused a lot of problems for a few days. He has been having good days at school and bad days at school. Most days he has at least one small meltdown. I never thought that I would be glad that we are a half-day Kindergarten district, but I am. God knew what he was doing! The good news is that Cade is bright and can already read (simple words and his colors). I hope that helps his confidence. He is having meltdowns at school. He hit his head one day and started screaming. Then he noticed that everyone was staring at him so he started crying and saying, "Why are they looking at me, stop looking at me". That made me so very sad. He is struggling some with his fine motor skills. When he has had enough of trying he will just start drawing circles and scribbling. I am going to ask his therapist what we can do to help with that. His kindergarten teacher continues to be fantastic!!! God truly answered my prayers. I was talking on the phone with my dad the other day when I had an epiphany. I "understand" that God gave me Cade for a reason but I had not been feeling in my heart that I was the best mom for Cade. When I was talking to my dad, I suddenly saw that I am the perfect mom for Cade. I will love him no matter what. I am willing to search out therapies, ideas, or whatever will help him. I am patient (most of the time) and calm (again, most of the time) so his meltdowns do not disturb me like they do some other people. Most importantly, I am open-minded about sensory issues and I truly understand that he is not behaving badly. I have been told that Cade could be fixed by some good old-fashioned discipline. I know that is not true. We have spanked our kids in the past. (I have found that the longer I am a parent the less I spank - we only spank now in very rare instances, safety related usually) Out of all our children, Cade has been spanked the most because we were trying everything to help him. Old fashioned discipline is not the answer for him. After we truly understood what was going on with him, we really felt some guilt. I am starting to ramble some, but the gist is that I know that I really can give Cade what he needs. He started museum school on Monday and he absolutely loves it! He was so very excited when I picked him up. He hid something behind his back and told me that he had a thousand rocks behind his back. He showed me a bag of sand and told me about how sand was made. He also made a hermit crab out of a pasta shell and some clay. He loves it. I was worried that museum school would be too much for him to handle, but he had the best time and cannot wait until next week. I told his teacher about SPD at meet the teacher and she knew exactly what it was! When we came on Monday, she remembered Cade and specifically asked me if flashes bother him because they were going to take some pictures. I am thrilled that someone so knowledgeable is his teacher.

Nate: Nate continues to crack us up!! He is just so much fun and so full of joy. He adores his brothers. He loves shoes, phones, and singing. That doesn't sound very manly, does it? He makes us laugh and brings so much joy to our lives. He started preschool today. He was thrilled to be taking his backpack but he was less than thrilled to go into the classroom. He cried and cried. I stayed in the hallway until he settled down. I am sure he will love it soon. Nate had the best time playing with the car shooter. He loves cars right now.



Nate going to preschool. He was thrilled to have his backpack. See him holding tight to his 2 bears.

Cade's beautiful lip, this picture does not do the grossness justice.

Nate will put on whatever shoes he finds. Here he is in Cade's socks and shoes.


Cade's hermit crab

Nate talking on the phone

Alaska

Since I have known Mark (16 years now!), I have known that he has always wanted to go to Alaska. He finally was able to go at the end of August. His brother-in-law, Todd, went also. It was a "hunting" trip but they never saw anything to hunt. Mark is very glad that he was able to go. Maybe Mark will blog about.

I am very glad that he got to go but I definitely missed him. The hardest part was not being able to talk to him. He was in the middle of nowhere so I could not give him a call whenever I wanted to talk to him. You should have seen the pure joy on Cade's face when he saw Mark! Ten days was too long for him to not have his daddy. The other boys were happy to have him home, too. So was I!!

Is it bad that I am glad that he did not get anything - I did not want a caribou head in my house. Does that make me a bad wife?

Here are a few pictures, maybe Mark will talk about them.

See those black dots, those are bears.

Wolf print

Do you see the quad rainbow?




Glacier


The beaver who did not like them around. She kept slapping her tail at them.